In the manufacture of certain bonded non-woven products, the use of topical binders to impart added strength to the final product is well known. An example of such a process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,257 entitled “Absorbent Unitary Laminate-Like Fibrous Webs and Method for Producing Them” and issued Apr. 22, 1975 to Gentile et al., herein incorporated by reference. A problem associated with commercially available topical binders is that they require a highly elevated curing temperature to impart the desired strength, which in turn requires a curing oven or equivalent apparatus. These requirements add to the capital and manufacturing costs associated with the product. Also, some commercially available binders can emit hazardous air pollutants, such as formaldehyde, and the resulting product can exhibit an undesirable odor, particularly when wetted.
An improved binder system is disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/654,556 entitled “Low Odor Binders Curable at Room Temperature” filed Sep. 2, 2003 by Goulet et al. This binder system utilizes a mixture of an epoxy-reactive polymer and an epoxy-functional polymer. However, there remains a need to continually improve upon binder systems useful for the commercial production of paper towels, for example.